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Meet the Ahmadis (The News Mississauga)

June 30, 2007

There are the Sunnis, the Shiites and now, meet the Ahmadis.

In fact, meet thousands of them as they converge at Mississauga's International Centre for the 31st annual convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community over the Canada Day weekend.

With three large halls devoted to the convention, and more than 20,000 visitors attending during the weekend, the event is one of the largest Muslim events in Canada as described by the Ahmadis. However, mainstream Muslims would call the event and the community anything but Muslim.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was first started in 1889 when Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (or simply Mirza), the spiritual leader of the group, claimed himself to be a reformer of Islam, the second coming of Christ and a Messiah who would save the reputation of Islam from the jaws of British imperialism.

Mirza's claims of being a Messiah, who has received instructions from God, has conflicted with one of the principles of Islam, which states that there is no other person after Mohammad possessing prophet like capabilities. For this reason, Ahmadis have been declared as non-Muslims by almost all the mainstream Muslim bodies around the world.

"Everyone has a right to exist and preach their religion," said Ahmad-din-Khalid, director of the Islamic Society of North America (Canadian division). "We just do not accept them [Ahmadis] as Muslims because of their non-conformity with the basic teachings of Islam."

Khalid maintains that the decision to expel the Ahmadiyya community was made by an international group of Muslim scholars in 1974. In countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Ahmadis are constitutionally declared as non-Muslims. Pakistan has gone far enough to make changes in its penal code in 1984 to arrest anyone linked to preaching the Ahmadi faith on the grounds of blasphemy despite the Ahmadi claim that they follow all the teachings of contemporary Islam.

Despite the persecutions, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has continued on and in a little over a century, has established centres in 185 countries with a following of more than 10 million.

Since the beginning, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has emphasized solving social and religious issues with the help of bilateral dialogue rather than through Jihad, as seen in the more orthodox Muslim faiths. This is evident by lack of any Ahmadi involvement in any war, riot or genocide in the Islamic countries in the last 100 years.

When asked about terrorism and establishing peace at home, the community authorities condemned any acts of violence and told the News that peace can only be established with a patriotic attitude.

"We believe that a person living in any country should be loyal to that country," said Aslam Daud, national general secretary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Commnity. "If one does not love Canada, then he/she should not live here and create problems."

Daud expresses his disappointment at the mainstream media who have given more coverage to fanatics and extremists and have merely glanced upon reform and liberal movements such as the Ahmadis, who believe that any issue can be amicably resolved with mutual dialogue.

A mutual dialogue is what will be happening in the 15 seminars and lectures during the weekend. Guest speakers and religious scholars will be addressing various issues ranging from the environment to evolution and intelligent design. A special lunch will be served to invited leaders of all religious faiths in Hall 5 at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The three day event runs in halls 3, 4 and 5 at the International Centre on 5500 Airport Rd. and will end at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

For more information about the event, visit www.ahmadiyya.ca/convention.

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20,000 at mammoth Amadiyya meet (South Asian Focus)July 3, 2007

A mammoth gathering estimated by organizers at 20,000 community members got together for the 31st Annual Convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at in Canada, held at the International Center in Mississauga over three days. More